cut it to the ground.. treat the stump .. and put in a trellis.. and find that red clematis you were dreaming about ...

it probably doesnt have dormant buds.. so treating the stump is not requisite.. but if you got the goo.. why not...

it might take a hundred year to rot ... but you can work around that with perennials...

this is a perfect example .. of the planter having no clue of future potential.. and planting that small babe... two feet from the foundation.. creating a shearing nightmare for the next 20 years ... lol.. it wasnt a problem the first 5 ... if only it was planted 5 to 10 feet out from the house.. it would have been a more prime specimen ...

the alternative wouldnt have been choosing a better sized specimen.. but them one might presume bigibox didnt offer such 25 years ago ...

be done with it ....

ken

What kind of evergreen is it? If a yew (very probably), cutting it back to the ground will rarely kill it. They are one conifer that is able to regenerate - albeit very slowly - from being cut back to ground level.

But you can significantly reduce its size by hard pruning and maintain it much smaller if you wish.

If a yew (very probably), cutting it back to the ground will rarely kill it.

Yes I am pretty sure that it is some type of yew.

After I have cut it down as low as I am able I can easily deal with 'rebound' growth or suckers. That will be lots less effort than having to prune it each year at its current size.

Thanks ken, thanks 'gg'. I will cut it down once the snow is gone and the temps are a bit higher.

Late winter or very early spring before it pushes new growth is ideal. But realistically, yews can be pruned just about any time you like.

Given that I want to cut it down to the ground or there abouts it doesnt really matter when I do it.

HIre somebody to dig it out. The air circulation alone you'll get from opening up that narrow corridor will be worth it.

Hmmmm......what kind of air circulation is required in that area? I see no particular benefit for removal.

I was wondering about the privacy issue. MIght be worth starting with a hard prune to be sure that you're OK with removal.

I have some kind of yews around my front porch. They were put in 40 years ago, and while they're cut back each year, they'd creeped taller than I wanted them. I didn't want to dig them out, so I did a hard cut back to see what would happen. It was hard enough that I had more than half brown-only branches. It was so ugly I chose to lightly spray paint the branches with green camo paint (so not shiny) just so they blended in a bit more. Years later, you'd never know they were pruned.